The Episcopal Church is rooted in the ancient and apostolic tradition of the Christian faith. At its heart is the worship of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Following Jesus—his life, teachings, death, and resurrection—is the foundation of all we do and believe.
As part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, The Episcopal Church stands in continuity with the earliest followers of Jesus. The faith has been handed down through generations, like a sacred trust—a kind of spiritual “bucket brigade”—passing along the living water of the Gospel from one age to the next. Each generation receives, embodies, and transmits the faith through worship, teaching, sacraments, and daily life.
The Church has always found that God is most fully known through the reading and proclamation of Holy Scripture, through baptism—the sacrament of new birth—and through the Holy Eucharist, where we are nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood. These practices, grounded in Scripture and tradition, form the core of our life together.
The Episcopal Church is a member of the Anglican Communion, a global fellowship of churches that share a common heritage with the Church of England. In the United States, The Episcopal Church carries forward this tradition, shaped both by the English Reformation and by the unique history of the American nation.
Our identity is not self-invented. It is received—from the apostles, through the early Church, through centuries of faithful Christians, and now entrusted to us. This sacred tradition reminds us that our faith is not a private possession, but a gift—handed down, preserved, and passed on by the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
